Croatia Refuses Cease-Fire As Serbs Mount Attacks

By
Reuters /
October 9, 1991

ZAGREB, YUGOSLAVIA

A CROATIAN spokesman said Oct. 8 that the rebel republic would not accept the federal Army's conditions for a cease-fire in Yugoslavia.The Army said it would go on attacking unless Croatia accepted a cease-fire and lifted blockades of Army garrisons. Croatian leaders met during the night Oct. 7 to consider the proposal, but Croatian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anton Babic later called it unacceptable in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation. Yugoslav news media reported sporadic shooting but no major clashes overnight Oct. 7, after the Air Force rocketed the headquarters of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. Yugoslavia's three senior Croat politicians - Mr. Tudjman, federal President Stipe Mesic, and Croatian Prime Minister Ante Markovic - narrowly escaped when warplanes attacked Tudjman's headquarters in Zagreb with rockets. The Croatian parliament was to meet Oct. 8 to discuss making the final break from Yugoslavia more than three months after declaring independence. Croatia and the neighboring republic of Slovenia declared independence June 25, setting off the conflict in Croatia that has killed more than 1,000 people. In Belgrade, Serbian leaders and the Yugoslav Army, seeking at the last minute to head off sanctions by the European Community, asked the EC to guarantee a new cease-fire. But an EC diplomat said the Community, because its cease-fire calls had been previously ignored by both sides, was unlikely to agree. EC sanctions, starting with the scrapping of a trade and cooperation agreement with Yugoslavia, were due to be imposed Oct. 8 after the midnight deadline for an end to hostilities passed. Canada and the United States, which have Serbian and Croatian emigre populations, have said they will also consider economic sanctions.